Martin Scorsese's historical true-crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon is one of the most anticipated new movies of 2023. It tells the story of a dark moment in US history, one most people probably aren't overly familiar with. But a short PBS documentary can help you get some key backstory to the events depicted in the Scorsese movie, and best of all it is available to watch for free.
Killers of the Flower Moon is based on a non-fiction book, David Grann's best-seller of the same name. However, if you haven't read it and don't want to wait to do so before watching Killers of the Flower Moon, then the PBS documentary Osage Murders is readily available.
The Osage Murders short documentary was part of the 2022 PBS Short Film Festival. It was produced by Dan Bigbee (Comanche) and Lily Shangreaux (Oglala Lakota), with Bigbee directing. It comes in at just over 13 minutes and offers viewers an explanation of how members of the Osage tribe became the richest people in the world per capita thanks to oil being found on their reservation. It details how the money was divided up amongst the tribe and then how people came to take that money away from them, often through murder. In addition to recounting the historical facts, the documentary features interviews with descendants of Osage members that were alive during the period that was known as the "Reign of Terror."
Anyone can watch Osage Murders for free, either directly on the PBS website (at least until July 11, 2024) or via YouTube.
Scorsese's movie includes a lot of what is discussed in the documentary during its three-and-a-half-hour runtime, but his movie specifically focuses on the family of Mollie Burkhart (played by Lily Gladstone), whose husband Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) and uncle William "King" Hale (Robert De Niro) were responsible for many of the murders in her family.
Osage Murders touches on Mollie & Ernest Burkhart and Hale, but it also offers details and perspective on other Osage families, while also mentioning a few of the other people that are featured in Killers of the Flower Moon.
Killers of the Flower Moon releases exclusively in movie theaters on October 20; it will eventually be available to stream on Apple TV Plus at an as yet unspecified date. Read WTW's Killers of the Flower Moon review here.
